PHOTOGRAPHER: Andrew Yee
T
an ethnic group native to South Sudan. She spent her early years in Cairo, Egypt, before moving to the US in the wake of a family tragedy when she was 10 years old and settling in the Midwest. Her mother, she says, picked the state of Iowa because phonetically sounds like aywa, the arabic for "yes".
Adot was first scouted while shopping in her hometown aged 14, and again at 19. However, she didn’t actually make the decision to start modelling until she was 20. Even then, the early days of her career were far from smooth. “They would say, ‘We don’t have a market for you’,” she says of the feedback she received then. Gak's response was to reframe rejection as a challenge: “I said, ‘Fine. We’ll find one.’”
SHARE THIS STORY
SHARE THIS STORY
Brights are back. From punchy primaries to rich jewel tones, head-to-toe colour is making a confident return this season. Sudanese-born model
Adot Gak is similarly self-assured – but her journey hasn’t been without
its challenges. Here, she talks to Basma Khalifa about defying
stereotypes, starting over, and shaping her own future
SHARE THIS STORY
Model of the moment -Adot Gak -showcases the new-season colour palette set to dominate 2026
The
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANDREW YEE
STYLIST: MARCO ANTONIO
FASHION DIRECTOR: LILY RUSSO BAH
EDITOR IN CHIEF: ANDREA THOMPSON
EDITOR: SUNIL MAKAN
SENIOR ART EDITOR: ANA OSPINA
WRITER: BASMA KHALIFA
SUB EDITOR: CATHERINE JARVIE
PRODUCER: CLARE LAZARO
FASHION ASSISTANT: MEG BUNDY
HAIR & MAKEUP: ELDRIDGE MULLENHOF
NAILS: TEJINDER DHILLON
DIGITAL OPERATOR: MARIJA VAINILAVICIUTER
LIGHTING: LUCAS BULLENS
VIDEOGRAPHER: REBECCA MUNROE
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR: DIONNE BRIGHTON
JUNIOR SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR: MAGGIE JOYNER
OPENING IMAGE FASHION:
Dress, shoes and necklace by Chanel
SHARE THIS STORY
“They said, ‘We don’t have a market for you.’
I said, ‘Fine. We’ll find one’”
ELLIS
ROSS
d
At the time, of course, that was easier said than done. So how did she navigate an industry and all those white rooms that didn’t know what to do with her? “I was delusional,” she says, laughing. “I’m still delusional to this day. When I walk into rooms like that, I don’t feel it. I own it. I worked my ass off to be here.”
Gak moved to New York City where, sure enough, her career began to take off. But beyond that world, the same old stereotypes were rife. In Milan, for example, she was told: “Your agency needs to stop sending you all, we have enough Black models.”
Her frustration at how she was pigeonholed is still evident today. "I thought I’d dress up, look pretty every day, keep my hair, not look like a little boy,” she says of how she presented at castings then. “They never referenced Naomi Campbell. It was always Grace Jones. Grace wasn’t really a model, she was an artist, a creative. She’s incredible, but we don't all want to look like Grace Jones just because we are dark-skinned.”
Gak had to battle to carve out her own place beyond the stereotype, but once she did, turning to the bold signature “look” that makes her so identifiable today, the rest of it fell into place. “I wanted to show that you can be bald and still be girly, feminine and a goddess,” she says.
“We don’t all want to look like Grace Jones
just because we’re dark-skinned”
For all the setbacks of those early years Gak loves the industry and adores fashion, citing Grace Kelly, one of old Hollywood’s great screen goddesses, as a style inspiration – a response that initially surprises me, but makes sense in the context of her previous comment. Her reply to being asked about her ultimate style icon, however, catches me off-guard. “I look up to Princess Diana,” she says. “She went against the norm of how a princess should behave. She wore red nail polish, mini-skirts – she did the things she wasn’t supposed to.”
Gak is clearly a woman inspired by rule breakers, seeing herself in the same vein. “There are so many young women looking up to me,” she says about why it’s important to her to be true to herself and her values. “If I don’t speak about things like war or women’s rights, what does that say about me? You can’t fix it, but at the very least, you can raise awareness.”
“People think I’m an only child. But there were ten of us once. Now there are only two”
Gak is refreshingly honest about her journey. She admits to feeling bereft after being stripped of make-up and hair for castings where she was required to be fresh-faced, and says she struggled to maintain a “cool and mysterious” facade like other models. (Unsurprising for someone who before modelling, had turned her hand to stand-up comedy.) “My agents said my personality was too bubbly and asked if I could take it down from a 20 to a seven."
She laughs. She really tried, she tells me, but her personality was bursting at the seams. Sharing her inner self online inevitably became an act of reclamation. “I’m a package deal,” she says. “I’m extra. I’m goofy and I love glamour.”
“If I don’t speak about things like war or women’s rights, what does that say about me?”
Her proudest career achievement, she says, has been shifting her name from model to a whole brand. “Modelling is great but I have so much to offer the world, I want to inspire people to be delusional and to be many things,” Gak says, noting that she has turned down work to do pursue a career more aligned with her values. “The first two years were hell,” she admits. “Then it started to make sense.”
Today she only takes on jobs she’s passionate about. Like our cover shoot, during which she swirls around the studio to Beyoncé, delighting in the selection of designer looks. “I loved the whole shoot, it was so colourful,” she coos afterwards. “I usually wear white all the time – I like to look pure – so it was fun to try something new. The shoot inspired me to wear more red and to maybe be more playful with my looks.”
TIMELESS APPEAL
By Stella McCartney
FASHION: Dress and shoes, both Marc Jacobs
TIMELESS APPEAL
By Stella McCartney
FASHION: Dress and shoes, both Marc Jacobs
A
Bright
Spark
the
“I wanted to show that you can be bald and
still be girly, feminine and a goddess”
Our time is nearly over when she opens up about the book she is writing – a memoir rooted in hope. “No matter what’s happening, it gets better,” she says cheerfully. She talks about her older sister, who was killed in 2005 during a protest in Cairo where 27 refugees and asylum seekers lost their lives. She was just 13 years old. Following the protest, nine-year-old, Adot who was protesting too was jailed for 30 days without conviction. Within the same month, she lost her father. “People think I’m an only child,” she says quietly. “But there were ten of us once. Now there are only two.” It's clear she does not want to go into further details speaking with the calm steadiness of someone who has learned how to live alongside loss.
“I’m a package deal. I’m extra. I’m goofy and I love glamour”
FASHION: Skirt, top and trench by Issey Miyake, necklace by Tasaki
FASHION: Dress, shoes and necklace by Chanel
FASHION: Dress by Erdem, gloves by Paula Rowan, earrings by Chanel Fine Jewellery
FASHION: Dress by Erdem, gloves by Paula Rowan, earrings by Chanel Fine Jewellery
FASHION: Pink dress, belt, pants, bralette and bag by Miu Miu
FASHION: Dress, bag and earrings by Chloé
FASHION: Dress, skirt, bag and gloves by Prada
dot Gak lights up when I introduce myself as a fellow Sudanese, and again when it becomes clear to both of us that we could conduct the entire interview in Arabic. The international model was born in the capital, Khartoum, though her family are Dinka,
I ask whether her exuberant personality is a form of survival. She smiles. “If I survived all of that then I’m a superwoman.” Funny, sharp, dramatic, warm and deeply sensitive. Gak is as layered as the life she’s lived.
When I ask where she sees herself in five years, she answers without hesitation: “A mother with a home in the countryside and maybe three more books”. So, you want home, I say. We both nod, knowing exactly what that means. Adot the Great – with so much greatness still to come.
“Modelling is great but I have so much to offer the world, I want to inspire people”
FASHION: Pink dress, belt, pants, bralette and bag by Miu Miu
FASHION: Shoes, shorts, skirt and top by Dries Van Noten, earrings and rings by Melanie Georgacopoulos
FASHION: Dress and shoes by
Jil Sander, cuff by Elie Saab, hat by Fancy Nancy London, necklace and earrings by Alémais
PHOTOGRAPHER: Andrew Yee
The Sudanese-born model has come a long way. She talks to Basma Khalifa about the journey so far – and where she wants to go next
that we could conduct the entire interview in Arabic. The international model was born in the capital, Khartoum, though her family are Dinka, an ethnic group native to South Sudan. She spent her early years in Cairo, Egypt, before moving to the US in the wake of a family tragedy when she was 10 years old and settling in the Midwest. Her mother, she says, picked the state of Iowa because phonetically sounds like aywa, the arabic for "yes".
Adot was first scouted while shopping in her hometown aged 14, and again at 19. However, she didn’t actually make the decision to start modelling until she was 20. Even then, the early days of her career were far from smooth. “They would say, ‘We don’t have a market for you’,” she says of the feedback she received then. Gak's response was to reframe rejection as a challenge: “I said, ‘Fine. We’ll find one.’”
“They said, ‘We don’t have a market for you.’ I said, ‘Fine. We’ll find one’”
At the time, of course, that was easier said than done. So how did she navigate an industry and all those white rooms that didn’t know what to do with her? “I was delusional,” she says, laughing. “I’m still delusional to this day. When I walk into rooms like that, I don’t feel it. I own it. I worked my ass off to be here.”
Gak moved to New York City where, sure enough, her career began to take off. But beyond that world, the same old stereotypes were rife. In Milan, for example, she was told: “Your agency needs to stop sending you all, we have enough Black models.”
Her frustration at how she was pigeonholed is still evident today. "I thought I’d dress up, look pretty every day, keep my hair, not look like a little boy,” she says of how she presented at castings then. “They never referenced Naomi Campbell. It was always Grace Jones. Grace wasn’t really a model, she was an artist, a creative. She’s incredible, but we don't all want to look like Grace Jones just because we are dark-skinned.”
Gak had to battle to carve out her own place beyond the stereotype, but once she did, turning to the bold signature “look” that makes her so identifiable today, the rest of it fell into place. “I wanted to show that you can be bald and still be girly, feminine and a goddess,” she says.
“We don’t all want to look like Grace Jones just because we’re dark-skinned”
FASHION: Body by Givenchy, necklace by Bulgari, cuff by Tiffany & Co., ring by Cartier and Melanie Georgacopoulos, hat by Atsuko Kudo
For all the setbacks of those early years Gak loves the industry and adores fashion, citing Grace Kelly, one of old Hollywood’s great screen goddesses, as a style inspiration – a response that initially surprises me, but makes sense in the context of her previous comment. Her reply to being asked about her ultimate style icon, however, catches me off-guard. “I look up to Princess Diana,” she says. “She went against the norm of how a princess should behave. She wore red nail polish, mini-skirts – she did the things she wasn’t supposed to.”
Gak is clearly a woman inspired by rule breakers, seeing herself in the same vein. “There are so many young women looking up to me,” she says about why it’s important to her to be true to herself and her values. “If I don’t speak about things like war or women’s rights, what does that say about me? You can’t fix it, but at the very least, you can raise awareness.”
“I wanted to show that you can be bald and still be girly, feminine and a goddess”
Gak is refreshingly honest about her journey. She admits to feeling bereft after being stripped of make-up and hair for castings where she was required to be fresh-faced, and says she struggled to maintain a “cool and mysterious” facade like other models. (Unsurprising for someone who before modelling, had turned her hand to stand-up comedy.)
“My agents said my personality was too bubbly and asked if I could take it down from a 20 to a seven."
She laughs. She really tried, she tells me, but her personality was bursting at the seams. Sharing her inner self online inevitably became an act of reclamation. “I’m a package deal,” she says. “I’m extra. I’m goofy and I love glamour.”
“People think I’m an only child. But there were ten of us once.
Now there are only two”
Her proudest career achievement, she says, has been shifting her name from model to a whole brand. “Modelling is great but I have so much to offer the world, I want to inspire people to be delusional and to be many things,” Gak says, noting that she has turned down work to do pursue a career more aligned with her values. “The first two years were hell,” she admits. “Then it started to make sense.”
Today she only takes on jobs she’s passionate about. Like our cover shoot, during which she swirls around the studio to Beyoncé, delighting in the selection of designer looks. “I loved the whole shoot, it was so colourful,” she coos afterwards. “I usually wear white all the time – I like to look pure – so it was fun to try something new. The shoot inspired me to wear more red and to maybe be more playful with my looks.”
“If I don’t speak about things like war or women’s rights, what does that
say about me?”
Our time is nearly over when she opens up about the book she is writing – a memoir rooted in hope. “No matter what’s happening, it gets better,” she says cheerfully. She talks about her older sister, who was killed in 2005 during a protest in Cairo where 27 refugees and asylum seekers lost their lives. She was just 13 years old. Following the protest, nine-year-old, Gak was jailed for 30 days without conviction. Within the same month, she lost her father. “People think I’m an only child,” she says quietly. “But there were ten of us once. Now there are only two.”
“I’m a package deal.
I’m extra. I’m goofy and
I love glamour”
FASHION: Body by Givenchy, necklace by Bulgari, cuff by Tiffany & Co., ring by Cartier and Melanie Georgacopoulos, hat by Atsuko Kudo
